Chapter 1

The Storyteller rJis

ACT III - And the Stars Are

April 17th,
2037 - Continuation of the Data Crystal,

THE KEY PLAYERS OF THE CS CHRONICLES
-- Book 1 only --

Note from rJis: In order to understand
our story, let me first give to you some background about the
key individuals who helped to shape the New Dawn. This description
will include key aspects of each person up to the beginning of
our story on February 17th, 1997 .

(Professor) Harry
Nielson: A famous and
well recognized professor in the 20th century specializing
in the area of Ancient History and Civilizations with more of
an emphasis upon the Mayan Culture. The professor taught in Yale
University on the East Coast of what was once called the United
States of America. The Professor wrote several successful books
about the Maya based on his intensive research and experiences at various
Mayan excavations in which he participated in, key ruins and digs within the
areas known as Mexico and parts of Central America. During his
almost twenty five years of travels throughout the Mayan regions,
the local natives would speak about a mysterious object, a human
shaped skull made of quartz crystal or as we know of it today,
a crystal skull. The first time he encountered the legend of the
crystal skull was in 1959. For some unknown reason, Professor
Nielson became totally fascinated with this subject, and began
to spend many days during his expeditions in these regions, speaking
to the natives to try to determine the history of this artifact,
whether it really existed and where it might be hidden.

In 1994, as he was starting to get quite
old (65 years of age) and was having numerous ailments and physical
problems that people of this age experienced in the Pre-Dawn times,
he decided that he would make one last trip into the mysterious
land of the Maya to look for the crystal skull before he his health
would not permit him to ever return again. Based on all the clues and information he
had collected about the crystal skull over the years and from
studying many Mayan glyphs, he determined that in Guatemala (part
of the Central America region, where some of the most magnificent
Mayan structures remain) would probably be the best place to find this
sacred artifact. He was determined, if there was nothing else
he would accomplish in his life, it would be to find this legendary
object. He knew from various Mayan documents he had translated
that were in his possession, that there existed a new codex (name
of a set of Mayan documents that give the history of these people
as well as discuss their laws as well as spiritual and religious practices)
in this region that if he could find it, it could lead him to
this ancient treasure.

Shortly after Professor Nielson arrived
in Guatemala, neither his daughter Jamie, nor his wife, ever heard
from him again. It appeared as if he had just disappeared from
the face of the Earth. All Jamie and her mother had received
from the Professor was a postcard saying he had arrived safely.
After a few weeks had passed, Jamie contacted the local authorities
in Guatemala who made an attempt to search for him, but they came
up with no clues. Therefore, Jamie and her mother both feared
that he may have been killed possibly by local bandits or perhaps
met an unfortunate accident due to the hazards and rigors of this
region of which a man his age was ill-prepared to deal with. His
daughter was heartbroken as he had been very close to her and
her friends could see that part of Jamie seemed to be distant
and cold.

Jamie Nielson:
Jamie is a free spirit who loves adventure and living on the
edge. At the beginning of our tale, she is 32 years old, has
been married once, but her husband could not deal with her fiery
energy, love of life and desire to always want to be on the move.

Jamie was born in California and she came from a well-to-do academic
family. As previously mentioned, her father Professor Harry Nielson
was a renown expert on the Mayans based on his numerous expeditions
into these mystical lands. Thus, we can see that Jamie received
a rich education and fell in love with traveling primarily due
to some of the expeditions she would accompany her father when
she was younger. Jamie believes that anything she sets her mind
to, she will be successful. Jamie is at present one of the most
successful journalist for a local newspaper in New York City (part
of the what was known as the state of New York) and is always
eager to go after the hottest new stories, especially if they
involve some danger.

Around the age of fourteen, she began
to have a series of dreams and strange experiences which led her
to study many of the worlds religions and cultures, trying to
understand her place in the universe. As she began to open up
to her spirituality, money and material possession became less
important and understanding universal truth and helping to create
a world of peace and harmony became more important. Jamie always
loved animals and a quiet vacation for her was being in nature.

Her interest in quartz crystals began when her father gave her
a birthday present of a mysteries crystal he found in one of the
Mayan ruins. She still has the crystal and at times, wears it
on a chain around her neck. Especially at the beginning of our
story, this crystal represents an important link for her to the
essence of her father, who she secretly hopes and prays is still
alive somehow in Central America.

As our story begins, we find Jamie at
a major crossroads in her life. Life is a bit boring for her at
the moment. For many years now, Jamie has had a powerful inner
feeling that she has something important to do or a contribution
to make to the world. Even though many people admire her and
wish they could live a life such as she, she feels as if she hasn't
accomplished very much in her young life. Another aspect of her
life she feels is missing is to really find that special person
to love and share a dynamic relationship with. However, finding
that right person, a man who is as strong willed and likes challenges
as much as she does, has been very difficult.

Michael Richardson:
Michael was born in Chicago and at the beginning of our story
is 41 years of age. Michael is a born explorer but considers himself
more of a researcher, lecturer and author. He started his professional
career as a computer programmer, however at the age of 28, he
began writing a series of articles based on various parts of the
world he had traveled to on his vacations. Michael is totally
fascinated by the diversity of cultures and people in our world
and if he had the time, he would try to visit and experience every
country on the face of the Earth.

From 1983-1986, he submitted
various articles about his travels to different magazines and journals
and periodically some of them would actually get printed. At the
end of 1986, he sent a piece about his journey to Tibet, to a
magazine in New York City, where he was living at the time. Michael
had always had a strong pull to visit this country and became
totally enchanted with the land and its people. He also had a
strange experience during his journey, a Tibetan Monk he did not
know, somehow seemed to recognize him and wanted to introduce him
to various head Lamas in the area. Michael couldn't quiet understand
what all the fuss was but he did feel as if Tibet was very familiar
to him even though he had never traveled there before. This trip
to Tibet was kind of a turning point in Michael's life.

In any case, the New York Magazine loved
his article about Tibet very much and published it in February
of 1987. The article received so many letters from the readers
that the magazine decided to hire Michael as a staff writer, which
was perfect timing for Michael as he was getting a bit bored just
doing computer programming. This new job gave him the opportunity
to continue to travel throughout the world, to many other exotic
places such as Peru, Central America, Egypt, Israel, etc ....
He started to become totally fascinated by all the incredible
mysteries and ancient ruins he encountered along the way on these
journeys (the pyramid and sphinx in Egypt, the Mayan Pyramids,
etc ...), so much so that he developed a insatiable passion to
find some answers to understand these wonders.

To quote Michael:

"How can I go on in my life when there are so many incredible
mysterious in our world that must have an answer? I can hardly
sit by and ignore this as I intuitively feel these mysteries have
a message for mankind that could literally change our world for
the better I must find out what this message is .."

Being a technically literate person,
Michael utilized his computer to document and record information
about each place he visited. In addition, he would access many
of the Online Computer Databases commercially available at this
time as well as such as the service known as the Internet (a
global network of computers that were linked together at this
time - similar to our global knowledge bank, the pre-cursor to
our system) to pursue additional insights about these ancient
cultures and sites. He developed friendships with many experts
in many fields and received thousands of electronic mail from
all over the world. Beginning in 1993, he received an invitation
from a Book Publisher in New York City (who had fallen in love
with Michael's articles about his adventures) to write a book
about all the different World Mysteries he had encountered in
his journeys as well as share any theories and conclusions he
had developed to explain their existence and purpose. Because
of the wealth of information he had collected so far, it was just
a matter of organizing his various computer files including his
personal experiences from his journals and in almost no time,
he had a completed book. This Publisher knew from Michael's writing
style and popularity that Michael could write a great book and
made him an offer he couldn't refuse including a generous advance.

The Book was published in 1994 and was
a smash hit, sitting on top of the New York Best Sellers list
for 15 weeks. As a result of the success of Michael's first book,
he was able to become a full time writer and speaker. This change
in his financial position enabled him to travel a great deal more
and to continue his research in uncovering some answer about these mysterious
ancients civilizations. His lecture tours were offered to packed
audiences who were totally fascinated with his adventures.

One
of the factors that helped Michael immensely to prepare for his
travels which at times found him in many isolated and un-populated regions, was the military
training he received as a young man. He volunteered at 18 to
join the army and received a chance to not only to earn his degree
in Computer Science through this service but learned many survival
skills that he used extensively (even getting him out of some
tough and dangerous situations) on his journeys. Even though
he was not happy about the four years he spent in the military,
since he was a person who was very committed to non-aggression
and peace, this military training helped him to improve his body
strength and stamina and prepared him for living in the wilderness
without many supplies.

In 1994, during an exploration of Guatemala,
Michael heard about the legends of an ancient artifact that the
natives called a head of crystal or a crystal skull. This crystal
skull was described as being human sized and shaped and was made
from a clear quartz crystal. It also was rumored to have some
special symbols carved into the quartz itself. Although he found
this legend interest, it really did not catch his fancy although
he did include the legend in his second book, "Journeys
of a Modern Explorer, Book II" (published in 1995).
Michael was one lucky fellow as once again, as his second book was
another best seller, outselling his first book handily. As a result
of the success of his two books, Hollywood was considering to
make a movie based on some of his exploits, portraying him as
a modern Indiana Jones (Editor's Note: Indiana Jones
was a popular explorer figure who was portrayed in a series of
movies in the late twenty century .. he was a professor turned
archaeologist - explorer).

Another aspect to Michael's personally
was his desire to work cooperatively with scientists and archaeologists
in a concrete way to help him unravel the many mysteries left
by these ancient civilizations. His first and foremost goal was
to determine by what means the ancients were able to build some
of the most remarkable structures known to the world (purportedly
without any modern machines). Next he felt it was vital to determine
the meaning and purpose of various mysteries artifacts discovered
in these incredible cities (the ruins) that had been left behind.
Actually his best friend, Joshua Conde, a physicist who was also
quite intrigued by Michael's adventures and curious about these
mysteries, helped Michael on numerous occasions with some of the
research for both of his books. Michael knew Joshua when they
were growing up in Chicago and stayed close friends since that
time. Thus, since Michael was a very logical and analytical person,
he felt he would need the best conventional scientific and archaeological
approaches using empirical data to discover some answers to these
ancient puzzles. A big turning point comes into Michael's life
as he becomes involved with the crystal skull in this story.
(Note from rJis: I shall say no more and allow the
viewer to discover this last point for themselves . )

Konchog "Kewtsang" Rinchen
(Tibetan Lama): Kewtsang was a Tibetan Lama, who from
1979 - 1998 was the head of a The Dharmachakra Center, a Tibetan
Buddhist center in New York City.
He had earned this right by hard work and devotion and was considered
one of the best teachers of deep Meditation (called "Mahamudra").

Kewtsang was born in a very
isolated region in Tibet in 1936 ... before the Chinese invaded his
country. The village that his family lived
in was quite small and his father was a farmer. At the age of six,
his father feeling it was important for one member of their family
to be involved with the religious part of Tibetan life, entered him
into a local Buddhist Order which was part of what was known as
the Nyingma Lineage. For you see, in Tibetan Buddhism at this time,
there were various lineages (orders), dependant upon certain teachings
and the reincarnation of various teachers. The Nyingmas tend to be
toward the more mystical end of the Buddhist spectrum.

Long ago, the order had discovered some special caves in their area, which
held some very unusual objects of great interest, which they believed to
have come from an earlier time and incorporated these objects into their
shrine materials. One object in particular, a mirror ... seem to have some
special energy or vibration and was placed in the main temple area
for decorative purposes and for good luck. One day (1949), when Kewtsang was in
his teens, he had entered the temple to participate in a communal meditation.
He felt a strange drawing to the mirror.
To the Buddhist, a mirror is a symbol of the part of the mind which is
reflective. Then all of a sudden he had an incredible experience, totally unexpected,
that showed him many visions. In one of these visions, he saw an image of
the Potola, a large palace (the seat of the Government in Tibet) in Lhasa and knew he
must leave and go there at once. (Note from rJis: Please see Act V for
further details . ). These visions forever changed his
life and so he traveled on to Lhasa.

In Lhasa, is where the young Dalai Lama was located and Kewtsang became
a monk in the Gelugpa order. His final training and spiritual development
seem to excelerate in Lhasa as he became more respected and took on
many more responsibilities. In 1950, the Chinese invaded Tibet and by
1951 were in almost complete control of the country, exercising limitations
on the Tibetans from practicing their religious ceremonies and beliefs.
Finally the pressure placed on the people by the Chinese became so
intense that many of the spiritual orders were forced to leave Tibet
including the Dalai Lama, who feld one night in disquise so he would
not be detained by the Chinese police. Kewtsang followed his religious leader to
India in 1959.
In 1979, it was decided that Kewtsang, or Lama Konchog Rinchen, would be
assigned to head a small Buddhist center in New York City, to continue the
spiritual teachings in the West. He was loved by his disciples and spread
the Buddhist philosophies of Tibet into numerous regions of the United
States. The center grew in size and by the early 1990's, took up almost
half a city block. The center was honored by a visit of his old teacher,
the Dalai Lama in 1993. While in the United States, Kewtsang felt a strong
inner compulson to become more familiar with the ways of the West. Learning
how to read and speak English in India, he read many books about history
and philosophy. Little did he know what destiny awaited this quiet but
very wise lama ....

Felippe Pumakawa Tupayachi
(Peruvian Amyrian Shaman): Felippe
is a Peruvian Amyrian Shaman and Teacher. He was born in the
Andes Mountains in Peru, in a very poor village and became a student
of the holy men who lived in these mountains. From the environment
he grew up, he gained a reverence for the Earth (the Pacha Mama)
which helped him to open to his natural spiritual gifts as a teacher
and a healer. Through the ancient teachers of the Andes, he learned
many of the sacred Inca teachings and mysteries. One day, his
teacher, an elderly man in his late seventies, shared with him
about the prophecy of the Inca. This prophecy basically states,
that when the Condor of the South meets the Eagle of the North,
a new time of peace and enlightenment will come. Felippe took
this prophecy to heart and in 1987, begin to travel by foot, throughout
various parts of Peru, to share with the people, especially many
of the native Indian tribes who are quite isolated, about the
spiritual traditions of the Inca. The priesthood, of which he
was a member, took it as a sacred trust to continue to teach these
traditions so that the people would never lose them.

Felippe felt that in order for him to
be a pure messenger of spirit, he must dedicate himself towards
the balancing of the ego. Thus in his teaching and approach to
life he was a very gentle and soft-spoken person. Felippe trained
himself to be able to go very deep in meditation and be able to
communicate very clearly with the spirits. Felippe was known
to have powerful visions about future events and spiritual insights,
which could happen at any time. While traveling to educate the
people in the north part of Peru, more of a mountainous jungle
region, he begin to hear the legend of a sacred stone, which was
described as a crystal oracle. Trusting his intuition implicitly,
he knew that he must pay attention to this legend, as he felt
this crystal oracle was a powerful tool that could help many.

In 1994, the elders in the Andes asked
for Felippe to travel to the United States, to continue to share
with the people of the North the Inca sacred traditions and to
make contact with the people of the Eagle, the Native Americans.
Eventually, during one of his visits to Lima, he was introduced
to an individual from the United States, who was interested in
organizing tours for Americans to Peru and was looking for a guide.
Felippe accepted to work with this America and knew that through
him, he would have an opportunity to fulfill his spiritual quest
to travel to North America. The American was looking specifically
for a tour guide who could teach the spiritual significance of
the spiritual ruins in Peru as well as the Inca philosophy. This
American was very impressed with the knowledge and insights that
Felippe possessed and also felt it was important to bring Felippe
to the United States so possible passengers could meet him and
Felippe could present more of what Peru is about. So, Felippe
thanked Pachamac ("The Creator") for his fortune, as
this provided him the way to travel to the United States to do
his spiritual work since he did not have the money to pay for
an airline ticket. Felippe traveled throughout the U.S. during
1995-1996 and during a visit to the Arizona area, he had a very
powerful connection with a family of Hopis where they discussed
the Hopi & Inca Prophecies. This family of Hopi, recognized
a long lost brother in the spirit of Felippe and he became a member
of their extended family.

Jacob Schwartz: Jacob is an a Jewish American,
32 years of age when our story begins. At this time in his life, he is finding
himself jumping from job to job as he tries very hard to figured out
exactly what he wants to do. His family wanted him to become a
Rabbi, as this has been a dream of the Schwartz family for over
100 years. In appearance, Jacob has the typical Jewish dark curly
hair and a beard. His family were quite encouraged when Jacob
was younger because he had a strong interest in the religious
philosophies of Judaism that he was learning in Hebrew School.
But as Jacob got older he drifted away from his upbringing and
started exploring spiritual and New Age studies during his twenties.
After graduating from college, to the horror of his parents, with
very little money in his pocket, he took off for California (
1988, almost on total "faith") because of a reading
he had with a psychic, suggesting that his destiny lay in California.
That in this area of the world, he would find himself and be able to meet with
a number of kindred
souls. His
main reason for going to California was to learn more about the
New Age Movement (the state of California was rumored to be the
best place to learn about anything connected with this movement
as well as a great place for some incredible spiritual experiences
(Editors Note: - the geological fault-line in the state of California
was known for setting up small energy vortexes that permitted
access to etheric energy levels for creativity) as well as have more contact
with UFOs. Jacob has always been a dreamer and the California
energies kind of made him even more ungrounded than he was already.

Somehow during his travels to the western
part of the U.S. he becomes attracted to going to Peru and works
out a deal with a wealthy family to help him take a short journey
there in 1989 he has no idea why he must go but the
compulsion is so strong, he almost went crazy by trying to talk
himself out of it.
While doing a meditation in an ancient Peruvian ruin known as
Olyantitabo, situated between the city of Cusco and the famous
Inca city of Machu Picchu, he has a vision of a crystal skull
one that he feels is somewhere in Peru. At this time his
no idea what the visions means as he has no knowledge about crystal
skulls and decides with all the other crazy experiences he has
had over the past few years, this one is just another one to let it go.
So he basically forgets about this experience.

After several years of continuing to
roam in various parts of the U.S., doing odd jobs here and there,
in 1995, he hears about a lecture being given about Peru in his
new home in the state (of what was called) New Mexico. A Peruvian
Shaman by the name of Felippe is going to be sharing information
about the Inca Prophecy. Jacob decides to attend
(Note from rJis: more revealed in a future section ... )
as the topic
sounds fascinating plus it is a chance to ask a knowledgable
person about some his experiences in Peru. This is a key moment in
Jacob's life ...

Francisco Hernandez:
In the beginning of our story, Francisco is an elderly gentlemen
(72 years of age) of Hispanic descent born in Mexico who has become
one of the world most famous art collectors. He loves buying, selling
and collecting any type of ancient antiquies from all over the world.

Since he was small boy, he has
always been fascinated by the native Mayan culture that existed
in his country. It is through this business especially in dealing
with Mayan artifacts that he meets Professor Nielson. It is quite
unbelievable that these two men, who have such different personalities and
values about life, would become such good friends. Somehow
through their mutual interest and fascination with the Maya, a close
friendship develops. This is due to the fact that both men have
a burning passion to truly understand the Mystery of the Mayan
Culture and by working together, they feel they can find such
an answer.

In order for Francisco to become an effective dealer
with these treasures, which of course to the
society of the 20th Century are very highly priced, he has
to work with people of questionable ethics. Whereas the Professor
always stays out of other people's affairs, Senior Francisco must
use his wit to survive some very dangerous situations. Francisco
is not proud that he has to move within circle of people who
are involved with crime, but he sees no other options and has
sumpreme confidence in his ability to deal with any other person.

Since
the moment that Francisco met young Jamie, he was in love with
this little girl and felt like he was her second father. Sometimes,
Francisco would invite Jamie to join him (especially when she
was younger) on some of his travels to collect special artifacts.
Francisco was not an easy person to like as he was quite ruthless
in his business dealings. Jamie knows that underneath that tough
exterior is a very sweet man who she affectionately calls "Uncle
Francisco". Francisco only allows his closest friends to
see the true part of himself, a man who is kind and comes from
a great deal of integrity. Francisco never marries, as his life
has just been too busy to settle down and have a family. He of
course had his share of lady friends however. Unfortunately, one
of the key characters who represents the adversary in this story
( a distant cousin of Francisco's Brother) has used a great
deal of the information that Francisco has shared with him about
Professor Nielson's work, and thus inadvertently tips his cousin
off to the Professor's search for the Crystal Skull in Guatemala.
Francisco has many business dealings with his cousin which is
unavoidable due to the nature of their mutual interests.

So one of the conflicts that Francisco
has faced throughout his life is trying to choose between the
good of his family and events that have more importance for Humanity
as a whole. Really his close ties with the Nielson family is
an escape route for him to do some good in the world (and secretly
he hopes that something he does in his life can help many others).
Francisco also shares a strong interest in the crystal skulls as
one of the most amazing artifacts ever connected with the Mayans
and is quite familiar with the legends told by his ancestors

The Adversary:
As in most stories told connected with the 20th century, there is always some
type of conflict that challenges the key people involved that ultimately leads
to answers about themselves. In our story we also find a diverse set of individuals
who seek to possess these powerful and
mystical crystal skulls for their own purposes.

"The Master"(The Black Magician)-
The real name of this person is never revealed and even in the present
time, when our story unfold it is still unknown. It is said if his real
name is spoken he will lose all of his magical powers. People call
him "The Master"
but in truth he is an individual involved in the Dark Arts and
Black Magic. This black magician always worked behind the scenes
(he is able to manipulate people with his rituals, had the ability
to perform mind control and could summon various types of evil
demons and spirits). It is written in the ancient book of the
Black Brotherhood, that to keep the world in darkness, the crystal
skulls should never be brought together physically. Thus our
arch villain, using all his psychic powers and spells pits himself
against those people who work to bring the crystal skulls together.
He is able on some telepathic level to know when a new crystal
skull comes out and approximately when the crystal skull is moving
or changes location. He has worked through many other unsuspecting
people, without their conscious awareness, to attempt to prevent
this occurrence from ever happening.

As mentioned before when introducing
Francisco, his cousin, Carlos
Mendoza, lives in Guatemala and is the head of a large
crime syndicate in this country. He is a cruel business man
involved with drugs, gun running, gambling
and prostitution. Carlos is a very feared man in his country. He is
a person you do not want to cross. His
ultimate desire is to become the President of Guatemala as he
is totally immersed into his mad passion for power and greed.
He controls billions and billions of dollars and wants to continue
to amass more wealth. Being familiar with the local legends about
the crystal skull, it represented a great prize to him, a power
object used by the Mayan High Priest to control the people. He
saw the possession of such an artifact as a symbol that represents
absolute power on Earth. Thus he will attempt to gain total control
of this object no matter the cost. It represents a sign of his destiny as a
world leader.

Mendoza has been aware of the Professor's search for the crystal
skull for some time. His organization has been
following him when arrived in Guatemala in 1994 and were involved
with his disappearance. Carlos had secret agents constantly on
the lookout for new clues about the crystal skull. His greed and
desire for power made him an easy pawn to be manipulated by the
power of "The Master", who visited him in his dreams
and adds fuel to his desire to have this crystal skull, not realizing
that he is doing the Master's bidding.

Secret Agency of the
U.S. Government:
In the late part of the 20th Century, the U.S. Government
was very involved in maintaining a secrecy about the UFO situation
i.e. that our world was being visited by many races of
extraterrestrials. With some of the information they had been
able to gather from various contacts with the ETs (as they were
called) they knew about the crystal skulls and that these
power tools of the ancients could change the course of destiny
for the Human Race. Although they did not have the understanding
of the crystal skulls as say Professor Nielson or the "Master",
they do get involved in our story from time to time. Unfortunately
in the late part of the 20th Century, life was very
complicated as many small groups of individuals were vying for
power and to stop the world from going through the "Time
of Transformation".

Mar-u
(A Guide in Guatemala): During
several of Michael's expedition to Guatemala he had become acquainted
with a Mayan youth (in his teens) who was steeped in the traditions of his
ancestors. Mar-u was actually a very psychic individual with
incredible gifts that he was able to develop by living naturally
in the jungle but he hid this part of himself from others by being very
mischievous and making jokes. Mar-u was known for his laughter which
could be contageous for others. Since he lived
a great deal of his life in the jungle areas of Guatemala, he
is a perfect guide for others who not very familiar with the terrain and
dangers of this region. His village has a legend about a sacred
stone that states "When the Sacred Stone returns to the People,
all of the People of Land will return to the traditional ways
of Life."

The Crystal Skull(s):
Mysterious artifacts originally primarily discovered in the ruins of various
ancient civilizations in Mexico and Central America. From the
legends of the people in these lands, these human size and shaped
skulls made from various types of quartz crystals are a gift from
the Gods to the people they are an important key to the evolution of humanity
and have been sought after over the millenniums .